At one time in the realm of social media it was all about numbers. In a PR and marketing environment the powers that be leaned on the PIO, or PR Director or Marketing head to collect names by the thousands to justify the use of Facebook, MySpace etc. I was sucked into this vortex at the start but always wondered exactly who these “friends” were. The more I looked at these friends the more I realized that many of these folks were not even casual acquaintances. They can actually be unwanted friends who make true relationships more difficult to attain.
I recently read an article on LiveJournal that stated someone with a thousand friends, could have less impact than someone with a hundred. I find this to be totally valid.
As the landscape of social media is becoming better understood, it is becoming apparent that less is more and knowing who your “friends are is paramount.
In my paid job as a Chief Marketing Officer, we are doing all we can to vet who is requesting that they be accepted as friends. By trying to learn all we can about potential friends we are trying to eliminate those we feel might have an unjustly biased or negative view of what our mission is, have other agenda’s beyond our own organization that they wish to expose to our loyal friends or want to network with us to gain business. Companies who want to have the opportunity to reach out to our friends are better understanding that the target market premise of having less hangeroners and more quality friends does a more effective job of getting your message out without allot of “white noise.”
A fine line is walked indeed. As governmental or voluntary fire departments the question arises, since we are funded with taxpayer dollars do we have any right to vet and refuse to accept any potential friend to our social media sites?
Also on The Fire PIO…
- Some Simplistic thoughts on Social Media – December 17, 2010
- A PIO Social Media Christmas – December 22, 2010
- Two Types of Press Releases – January 5, 2011
- New Media, Old Media – January 10, 2011
I think be developing a simple social media policy you can vet as needed. The obvious things can be avoided (profanity and lewd comments). Additionally, the “fears” with social media should out weigh the benefits. The more people are informed the better. If you are in the fire service maybe you could consider the union hosting the social media outlets to help vet that distinction between paid employees and union members.
http://2in2outblog.com/2010/08/30/social-media-marketing-monday/